"The next day the crowds who had come up for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took branches of palm and went out to meet him, shouting, 'Hosanna! Blessings on the King of Israel, who comes in the name of the Lord.' Jesus found a young donkey and mounted it - as scripture says: Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, mounted on the colt of a donkey. At the time his disciples did not understand this, but later, after Jesus had been glorified, they remembered that this had been written about him and that this was in fact how they had received him."

                                                                                                                                                --John 12: 12-16 (Jerusalem Bible)

You may be curious as to why a scripture reading normally reserved for the service of worship two weeks from now has been selected for today. Well, although it contains the Palm Sunday narrative, all I am concerned with now is the donkey.

I think that donkeys are getting a bad rap. These gentle, unassuming,hardworking beasts of burden have been made the butt of countless jokes. In Mexican culture (and others as well) the appellation "donkey" is applied to a stupid person. People from Mexico can tell you about the burro orejon, or donkey ears, that the student who incurs the teacher's wrath must wear when sent to the back of the room. In Tijuana donkeys are even painted to look like zebras. We laugh at them and take their pictures. But with their typical donkey humility they don't seem to mind. They just go on being donkeys.

And this is where the donkey enters into our story today. In our modern way of speaking, people are often known or judged by their "rides". When I was in high school all young men knew that there were three ways to become popular with girls: be an athlete, join a band, or have a cool car. I am imagining how you might think differently of me had I driven up to the Chapel today in a shiny black Mercedes with all the options. Likewise, for people in Hebrew culture the mode of transportation spoke of the person. As we telescope forward two weeks to Palm Sunday we are struck with Jesus' insistence that he ride a donkey into Jerusalem. It is evident that He was well aware of the cultural implication regarding horses and donkeys. There is an entire store of scriptural references supporting what Jesus most likely would have known, and it has a direct bearing on our Lenten journey.

Our reading this morning from the Book of John gives us the context. Jesus found it imperative to fulfill the prophecy that he ride into Jerusalem on a donkey. If we turn to the book of Matthew we find Jesus' request as to what was to take place: "When they were near Jerusalem and had come in sight of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, 'Go to the village facing you, and you will immediately find a tethered donkey and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you are to say, 'The Master needs them and will send them back directly'. This took place to fulfill the prophecy: Say to the daughter of Zion: Look, your king comes to you; he is humble, he rides on a donkey and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden." ¹

Have you ever wondered why this was important? I suppose I did, but never gave it much thought until I happened to read today's scripture in The Jerusalem Bible. It contains an amazing system of not only scholarly notes but chain references where by the passages in the Bible are illuminated by other passages. And so it was a chance occurrence that I stumbled on this business of donkeys. Let me read you the footnote to today's reading and tell you where it led. "In thus describing the messianic king's humble mount the prophet had in mind the unpretentious, unwarlike nature of his rule. Jesus, by performing this action, deliberately took to himself both the words of the prophecy and their deeper meaning." Neither did this symbolism escape his audience, who were aware of the Hebrew scripture.

The quotation in Matthew and John comes from the Book of Zechariah, chapter 9, verse 9. Again, referring to the notes, "The Messiah is to be 'humble' (ani), a characteristic attributed to the future people of God. Renouncing the panoply of the historic kings, the messianic king will ride the traditional mount of princes." From here the references go back farther. In the Book of Kings the ambitious Adonijah, who wanted to be king, procured a chariot and a team of horses with fifty men to run in front of him, but this was of no avail.² Solomon, whom we know for his wisdom, is instead consecrated by the aging King David and, wouldn't you know it, is escorted to his anointment on David's own mule. Donkeys are the mount of judges, those having wisdom, and the Book of Judges tells us of two of them. Jair, who judged Israel for twenty-two years had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkey's colts and possessed thirty towns in Gilead.³ Abdon, son of Hillel, another judge of Israel, had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys' colts.⁴ The Kings, other than Solomon, are found to be riding horses, but the donkey is the mount of the wise.

The earliest and most curious reference comes from Genesis. The notes say that this possibly refers not only to David but to David as a type of the Messiah, possibly the earliest indicator of the messianic hope that is held by both Jewish and Christian tradition. It is haunting and mysterious, and again mentions the donkey: "The scepter shall not pass from Judah, nor the mace from between his feet, until he come to whom it belongs, to whom the peoples shall render obedience. He ties up his young ass to the vine, to its stock the foal of the she-ass. He washes his coat in wine, his cloak in the blood of the grape; his eyes are cloudy with wine, his teeth are white with milk." ⁵

The humility of the donkey, you see, as opposed to the pride of the kingly horse, symbolizes the call to conversion made by the prophet Zephaniah, "Seek Yahweh, all you, the humble of the earth, who obey his commands. Seek integrity, seek humility: you may perhaps find shelter on the day of the anger of Yahweh." ⁶ Humility is our only defense against not only our self-destruction, but the destruction of our society, which in Old Testament times was the wrath of God but we now recognize as the tendencies of our own out-of-proportion egos. Bernard Madoff is probably reflecting on this as he looks ahead to life in prison. But it is not only him; it is all of us. We all need to get off our horses, for only by humility are we fit for the Kingdom of God.

The Hebrew language, and the passages from the Old Testament which relate to the symbolism of the donkey, provide us with a comprehensive and satisfying philosophy of humility in all of its aspects. We would do well to understand this viewpoint and to incorporate it into the scope of our thinking and action, for the way of humility is a complete spiritual system. First, the internal aspect, a complete stripping of our pretensions of grandeur, of our demands upon God or anyone else for that matter, a complete openness and availability to grace, like the hymn we sang today, "Just as I Am", and the Litany of Humility in our bulletin. This offering of ourselves, a rending of our hearts, is a fitting gift as we present ourselves at the feet of the divine. This is followed by a natural and spontaneous flow to the external, as within our being we have created a fertile field for, as the Buddhists say, right action, to take place. To assimilate these ideas into a modern context, or, more important, to live this philosophy of humility, has the potential to transform the fabric of our society which is under such strain, into one which benefits the greatest number and which reduces the tension and animosity between individuals and groups. There is a reduction of difference, a mutual support, a sharing of resources. Again from the notes in The Jerusalem Bible. I give you these words because not so much for us to learn them as to show how well-developed and inclusive this philosophy was: "The 'humble' or 'poor', anawim in Hebrew. These play a large part of the Bible. Though wisdom literature looks on poverty, resh, as the result of idleness, the prophets are aware that the poor are usually the oppressed, aniyyim; they demand justice for the weak and lowly, dallim, and for those in need, ebionim. The humane legislation of Deuteronomy shows the same attitude of mind. With Zephaniah 'poverty' assumes a moral and eschatological significance. In short, the anawimare those Israelites who submit to the will of God. [Later] the word anaw (or ani) has the added meaning of thoughtfulness for others. It is to the poor that the Messiah will be sent. He himself will be humble and gentle, and the victim of oppression."

This philosophy is beautifully illustrated in the book of Ecclesiastucs. They could very well have been written for us today. Think of how this might apply: "My son, do not refuse the poor a livelihood, do not tantalize the needy. Do not add to the sufferings of the hungry, do not bait a man in distress. Do not aggravate a heart already angry, nor keep the destitute waiting for your alms. Do not repulse a hard-pressed beggar, nor turn your face from a poor man. Do not avert your eyes from the destitute, give no man occasion to curse you; for if a man curses you in the bitterness of his soul, his maker will hear his imprecation."⁷

Our Messiah was and is deeply involved with the pain and the injustice of the world, and that is what makes him the Messiah. He is not apart from it - the suffering of the oppressed of the world is truly his suffering. And the way out of this mess is to make our nature that of his nature. Again, it requires an absolute and unrelenting internal humility that blows apart all our earthly schemes and is the only force that can make us fit for the divine. Then the external matters are dealt with. We must not turn our face from the poor, or to those in need of justice, or to those oppressed by powerful political and economic forces under which they have no control. Our humility, like that of Jesus, must make their struggle ours.

The Christian social and moral view we are left with is exactly the same as the Hebrew. It was the spirit of the Jewish law which was fulfilled by the Master during his life on earth. It is also reflected in the Book of Tao and Buddhism. The difference is that in the Christian revelation we actually have one who in his physical body took this all upon himself. This is where the transformation takes place. There is higher development, a new dimension, a personal one. We participate with Him in this living sacrifice, as He does with us, for He is the vine and we are the branches. And if enough of us pattern our lives in this way, it just may be the key to escaping this terrible judgment, a judgment we have made upon ourselves, that has befallen the economic systems of the world. If the Hebrew prophets were alive today, they would rail against the unbridled greed that led to it. To them it would have been predictable, and for many of us here it didn't take a prophet to see where we were heading. Students of the Great Depression, or as we may soon refer to it as the First Great Depression, speak of the greed, the manipulation and the speculation which led to the false expectations, which led to the bubble, which led to the crash, which led to the economic debacle which was to haunt the world for the next ten years.

Remember the Ecclesiastucs quote? Think of how this may apply in this current situation. To more fully complicate the lives of those who have fallen on hard times, the "default rate" on many credit accounts has risen to 29.9% (let's just make it 30), usually lasting for the next six months if the subsequent payments are made on time. But to someone struggling already, that could make the difference between solvency and bankruptcy, or between medicine and food. Why are the banks doing this? Because for now they can until federal regulation takes place next year limiting further increases in many of the excessive bank charges we have seen in recent years. We also now have evidence that the banking industry purposely led minorities with limited English skills into signing sub-prime contracts. Yes, people should understand what they sign. This may be a legal defense, but it is certainly not a moral one. And to those who tout the superiority of the Christian nation, I must remind them that in Islamic countries, Sharia law prevents lending such as this from taking place. It simply is not allowed. And while the blame is being spread around, shame on us for not insisting that our elected and appointed officials act on behalf of the people, and I don't just mean the people at the top.

The horses have been running wild and have made a mess of things, but now, as in times past, the burden falls to the hardworking, humble donkeys to pull things back together. It may take a long time, but they will, for in their humility is their true strength. Their work is the work of Jesus. And in closing I hope that you will agree with me that you can learn a lot from a donkey.

All scripture quotations from the message and the Litany of Humility below are taken from The Jerusalem Bible.